Part 2

In making your studies be careful not to expect to find birds during seasons when they do not normally occur. On the other hand, if you identify a bird at a time which is not indicated in this manual, special note should be made, for pioneer records such as these are valuable to the author who wants to gather together all data, and the last word has not yet been said upon all the movements of even our commonest species.

BIRD-SONGS

It is my belief that but few people altogether lack a sense of tune. Some of my students at the University of Pittsburgh had difficulty, I remember, in diagramming bird-songs; but with a little practice you will be able to jot down syllables which will help you to recall bird-songs. The well-known names Chickadee, Phœbe, and Killdeer are all permanent records of this very sort of syllabization of bird-songs—an attempt to write down what the bird is saying. Sometimes a bird will be heard again and again before it is seen. If my notes concerning songs are at all accurate, some of these will help you to find birds which you might have difficulty in identifying from appearance alone.

NOTE-BOOKS

Write down all sorts of notes, be they ever so incomplete. Make sketches of birds as you see them; diagram the songs and call-notes. Keep all that you write as accurate and free from imagination as possible. Do not accredit a bird with certain colors until you see them.

A note-book may take the form of a diary wherein is stated the temperature of the day, the weather conditions, the length and route of your field-trip, and the birds which you saw, together with notes upon them. Or, your system may be more elaborate, with a separate sheet for each species whereon you put all the data which you accumulate, more or less, perforce, in chronological order. The principal point to remember is that notes should be written while they are fresh in the mind, on the spot, if possible, to avoid inaccuracies.

SPECIMENS

Only a few ornithologists can have a complete collection of birds for reference. Everyone can save feathers of birds, or old nests, however, and when birds are found dead, they may be saved as specimens, if a permit for holding them is requested from the State Game Commission. When I was a lad I saved feathers which I found in the woods and had a large collection of these. Some of them, I later found, were all that were needed in authenticating a good record.

You will find it helpful to visit a good museum occasionally, so as to have a close view of the birds you have been reading about, or studying under difficulty, in the field. Here you will see clearly the color patterns, the anatomical characteristics, and the actual size of the birds that have puzzled you.

FIELD-GLASSES

A good binocular, preferably one which magnifies about six times, is a great aid to the amateur. The field of the glass, its illumination, ease of adjustment, and such points should be investigated before the purchase is made. A well-made glass with good lenses is probably the best in the long run, even though it be more expensive. Glasses should be handled carefully. They should have a good carrying-case, and should not be left lying in the sun nor exposed to the rain.

BOOKS

Many excellent standard works upon birds are available. When I was a youngster I wore out three volumes of Dr. Frank M. Chapman’s Bird-Life; I devoured the reading matter, cut up the pictures, and studied the technique of the artist who had painted them. By the time I had destroyed the third copy of this helpful volume, I knew the birds treated there pretty well. Chapman’s Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America is a desk-side companion today. The little pocket volumes called Bird Guides, by C. A. Reed, are helpful; but the color-plates in them have been used so many times that they are worn out, with the result that the colors are often very misleading. Dr. B. H. Warren’s volumes on the Birds of Pennsylvania, published in 1888 and 1890, contain much of value and interest, including a series of colored pictures which always elicit praise. These volumes, while interesting historically, do not meet the needs of the Pennsylvania bird student today, in the light of present knowledge. The excellent state publications Birds of New York (Eaton) and Birds of Massachusetts (Forbush), are magnificently illustrated and are well worth possessing; they treat of many of the species found in Pennsylvania. Books on general aspects of ornithology which you will find useful are: Wetmore’s The Migrations of Birds, Ball’s Bird Biographies, Blanchan’s Bird Neighbors and Birds That Hunt and Are Hunted, Chapman’s What Bird is That?, Coues’ Key to North American Birds, the National Geographic Society’s Book of Birds, and Forbush’s Useful Birds and Their Protection.

MAGAZINES

The proceedings of the Delaware Valley Ornithological Society, published under the title Cassinia, contain a wealth of material interesting to the Pennsylvania student. The Cardinal, journal of the Audubon Society of the Sewickley Valley, and a well-edited periodical, contains articles of interest chiefly to workers in western Pennsylvania; The Auk, The Wilson Bulletin, Bird-Lore, The Oologist, The Condor (western), and Nature Magazine, all are likely to contain articles of interest to Pennsylvania bird students.

BIRD HIKES

Early-morning hikes are good, but activity among birds is high, as a rule, until 10 o’clock A.M., or later, so you need not be in haste to get out at 4 o’clock, unless you have to go far. The trained bird student so comes to depend upon songs that he stays out as long as the birds are singing. Windy days are poor, because the birds are shy. In gentle rains, birds will often be very active and tame. Toward evening, birds often become active and vociferous again. Only a few of our birds sing during the heat of the midsummer noon.

IN THE FIELD

Winter is an ideal time to begin bird-study, because there are no leaves and because the birds are few and not difficult to identify. If you learn the winter birds thoroughly, you will be ready for the rush of the spring as old favorites return and new friends appear.

Midsummer is often a disappointing season because birds are silent and in poor feather. At this time you will be able to study the plumages of the young birds, however, and you will find much of interest in watching the affairs of family life. Migrant shore-birds should be watched during late summer.

Fall is the season of trials. Now come the restless, sombre-colored hordes, most of them silent save for a few brief call-notes. When you can easily identify all the fall birds, you are a pretty good ornithologist.

In approaching a bird, common sense will warn you that you should be as quiet as possible. You should be obscurely dressed, and if you can go under, around, or between bushes, rather than through them, you will cause less disturbance. Often the best way to study birds is to find a pleasant, somewhat hidden spot and remain there for an hour, watching all that comes by. A good bird student, in the course of his walk, will try to visit as many different kinds of country as he can; he will visit the ponds and marshes, the grape-vine thickets, the open fields, and the hemlock woods of his neighborhood. He knows that in these different regions he is likely to find different birds. In fact, unless he does carefully study all of these regions, he is not thoroughly studying the bird-life of his locality.

You may have trouble in seeing some birds, though you pursue them ever so tirelessly. Try kissing the back of your hand in such a manner as to imitate the cries of a young or wounded bird. This sound will often arouse the curiosity of the wariest bird and he will come close. I thus made a squeaking sound once and a Robin hit me with full force on the neck; she was so convinced that I had one of her young in my dreaded clutches that she gave stern battle! These squeaking cries sometimes draw even the birds of prey.

VALUE OF PENNSYLVANIA BIRDS

Birds are of great value from the economic standpoint. The insects, destructive mammals and reptiles, and weed-seeds which they destroy are all enemies of man. It is amazing that in the scheme of nature certain birds should patrol the air, others the fields, others the trees, others the forest-floor, and so on, so that all outdoors is, in a sense, cared for by our feathered friends. It has been said that our very existence depends upon these birds who make it possible for the trees, the flowers, and the grain-fields to grow. And all the while these same creatures are delighting us with their beautiful colors and their cheerful songs.

Game-birds are important in Pennsylvania, with 700,000 hunters faring forth each fall. In addition to our popular game-birds, the Bob-White, Wild Turkey, and Ruffed Grouse, the Game Commission has introduced the Ring-necked Pheasant and Hungarian Partridge. These foreigners relieve the burden of shooting from our native game.

From the economic standpoint only a few birds in Pennsylvania may be said to be thoroughly undesirable. The Goshawk is a savage destroyer of small game and poultry. His smaller cousins, the Sharp-shinned Hawk and Cooper’s Hawk, are killers. The Great Horned Owl is destructive at times. Other hawks and owls, the Crow, Kingfisher, Starling, and other species have some destructive or undesirable traits, but they are not altogether bad.

Our valuable song and insectivorous birds have been protected since 1858. Certain migratory birds, such as the loons, grebes, herons, and gulls, have been protected since 1900 by the International Bird Treaty with Canada. Today we protect one admittedly destructive bird—the Raven, because it is so rare and because of its fame in literary circles.